Beware of Man: Old Spice tweaks its positioning again

In the early naughties (00’s), Old Spice reinvented itself better than pretty much any brand I’ve seen before or since. It entered into new categories like deodorants and body wash, updated its identity and communication, and intelligently left its original cologne basically alone so as not to confuse my father. It was able to do what few established brands do successfully: win over a new, younger, sexier audience without alienating its older, more traditional core. It adopted a more masculine version of the metrosexual and made a statement that caring about the way that you look and smell might be a good thing.

This new work from Wieden and Kennedy shows that Old Spice is adjusting that positioning yet again. And AGAIN, doing it in an impressive way. They’re moving away from the Details-reading metrosexual (readership is declining anyway) toward a more rugged Men’s Journal-flipping version of itself. Not too surprising when you know that this is the agency behind the inspired Miller High Life work, but timely nonetheless given cultural shifts toward a more masculine ideal.